— Darren —

“Have the forensic team arrived?” I asked my brother Michael.

“Yeah, they’re here already,” he replied.

It had been three weeks since the wedding. Michael returned home alone. Ana has been living with Eva and me, and was doing a little better. Kevin, Kate and Fred were settling in their new temporary packhouse for the winter. The packs were moving each in their own places. There would be tons of readjustments, but the nights were getting colder now, and we kept the workers focused on repairs and making everything function for the cold season, and using that time to prepare for spring and the full remodel of the territory to fit it to everyone’s needs.

I never expected Kaden to ask my brothers, but I was glad he did. I was a little sad that Michael was so far from all his siblings, but I knew he was also appreciating that everyone was settling and growing into their own.

Fred met Veronica, Elizabeth’s twin sister, and they were now an item. They weren’t mates, but things seemed to be going well.

Michael finally found what my brother’s murderers were looking for, in our utility room, they’re tried to connect something to the network, probably to better spy on Stonewillow. But they’d been dragged out of there. Only, there was some DNA left behind, a possibly good sample too.

It was well hidden which is why we didn’t find it at first, but now we had it, and If Elaeya said we had to find this, then it meant if was important. Might even crack the case.

Things were getting slowly hotter in Stonewillow, and by that, I didn’t mean the weather, but the heat was there. A lot of packs have had very similar attacks to my brother’s pack. The fact that Michael was now backed by Blakemore and that three of his brothers were ranked members under Blakemore, had not fallen into deaf ears.

In a way, this was helping him build a few alliances, in others it was attracting bad or unnecessary attention. He had to be very careful. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie, and the instability in the region only heightened the situation.

I was worried about him.

I wanted my whole family safe. I knew that getting my brothers here was probably one of the best things to do to protect them, and I knew Michael thought exactly the same, but it also left him more vulnerable.

It had been rough to announce to my parents that all four of them—including their daughters-in-laws—were not coming back, and I didn’t envy my brother’s position.

Blakemore sent more warriors to Stonewillow to stabilize things as much as possible. Eva and I might go back in a few weeks to sort more things there, but we tried to take our time with this.

“How are you doing?” I asked Michael worried

There’s another thing that has hit him pretty hard.

When he met Elaeya, she caught him looking at all the couple, and told him to stop waiting as he had no mate. He didn’t show it, but I knew it hurt him, nearly as much as losing his brothers.

There are not many reasons for someone to not have any mates, and the main reason is usually that she had already died. And deep down, he was mourning a woman he had never met. Giving his state of mind, he was not in a good place.

I talked to my mother, for her to look after him. I knew he would not have told her otherwise, and Dad was not the rock he used to be when we were kids. He was in a dark place of his own. His greatest wealth, his pack, business, and sons, were gone. Michael owned everything now and he was the last son around.

I didn’t feel great about how things were with him. He hadn’t always been the best father, but he was the only father I had, and I wanted us to talk again, and for him and Mom to be here for my wedding next summer. I wanted them to meet their future grandchildren.

The most difficult things with my father had always been linked to the responsibilities on his shoulders, but they were gone now, and I wanted both my parents to be able to enjoy retirement, travel, have activities, have fun, live.

But, as I thought about it, the best thing I could do now is to finish this bloody war now, as soon as possible, talk with my father, and begin to rebuild the burnt bridges one by one.

“I’m fine,” lied Michael.

I have no idea what I can do for Michael though. I don’t know how I can help, other than stabilise the situation for him.

I suddenly felt really lonely for him, and there was nothing I could do.

— Eveline —

“So,” I said. “Here is the last one to sign.”

My brother took the form and looked at it.

“Where is Elaeya?” I asked him.

“Around,” he said. “She’s really popular these days.”

“Luna work?” I asked.

“Yeah, I don’t want things to become too much for her, but she keeps telling me to stop worrying and focus on stabilizing the situation and finishing the packs transfer,” he said, still scanning the documents.

“I’m glad things are going well with her.”

He looked up and smiled at me. He smiled a lot more now. Genuine smiles too. It looked good on him.

“When will be the Honeymoon?” I asked.

He furrowed his brows. “I’d like to plan, but I’m not so sure it’s a good idea, neither think Ela, so I don’t know.”

“That’s not really romantic,” I said sitting down in front of him.

He shrugged. “It’s not like that’s what I want, but there has to be compromises.”

“I guess.”

“I’d like to send you to Mystriver,” he told me.

“Is everything okay with David?”

“I’m not sure. He was evasive last we talked, but given how things have gone lately—.”

“I get it.”

“Are you okay with this? I haven’t sent you this far since Ghealach.”

“I’m okay.”

“I don’t think I can spare Darren at the moment.”

I nodded. “I can go on my own.”

“You’ll have a team. Security,” he assured me.

An idea popped up in my head. “What if I bring in Nadine?”

“She hasn’t been doing that type of work yet.”

“No, but she’s doing well. Actually, I’m starting to think that I might give her my secretarial job, with all the gamma work, and if I keep doing ambassador work, maybe it would be easier this way. But, I mean, I learned a ton travelling to various packs, and it’s a good change of pace from the office, and maybe I could use our spare time to brief her on the job.”

“You think she’s solid enough?”

“I think she’s doing better than I did when I started up.”

He nodded. “Okay, if she wants it, then we can do the transfer. You want an office?”

“Can I have my own?” I asked excitedly.

“You could be entitled to one if you want it.”

I clapped my hands exhilarated. “This is awesome,” I said getting up. Then I rushed to my brother to give him tons of kisses.

“Eva! Cut that out!” he ordered, but I kept at it.

“For crying out loud, are you a grown ass woman or a toddler?” there was no malice in the words and I knew that deep down, he was probably happy.

“Thanks, big brother,” I told him when I finally quit. There was lipstick on his cheeks. “You might want to clean that out before your wife sees you.” I pointed at his face.

He growled and moved to his bathroom to wash the makeup off.

“Thanks again,” I told him. “Give me words when you want me at Mystriver.”

He grunted some sort of acknowledgement, and I left him cheerfully to his brooding.

— Mishka —

My smart watch pinged.

I looked at it.

“Sorry guys, I have to drop this,” I told the room. “Now you might have a chance to win.”

Someone smacked me on the back of the head.

“Fucker,” another complained.

I moved out joyfully whistling ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’.

Someone amicably slammed the door behind me.

I like them too.

I went straight to my room in the barracks, moved the bed aside and opened my smaller safe, which was connected to my secured laptop. I pulled the computer out, still connected to its wires and flipped it open.

I had a few programs working at the moment and I went to see what could have triggered an alarm.

I scanned everything carefully. It was not coming from the programs. I could not have detailed notifications with this setup and it was a pain. I should probably upgrade this up. I’m sure the boss would finance the upgrade if I asked nicely enough.

I found something in my emails.

From a reliable source.

Fucking fuck!

I shoved everything in the safe and locked it up in a hurry.

I considered sending a text or mindlink, but I thought this was better said in person, so I rushed out to the office building.

“Emergency,” I told Mark as I passed his desk. He didn’t stop me.

I knocked on the boss’s door and barged in. He was on the phone and raised his finger to tell me to wait a minute.

“Nope, you don’t want that,” I told him as I closed the door behind me.

He saw the seriousness of the situation in my face.

“I have to go, I’ll call you later to confirm,” he said in the receiver and hung up.

“There is a hit on your wife,” I said without preamble.

He got straight up.

“When?”

“Found out just now. Don’t know how long it has been, but it’s on her I’m sure.”

“What does it say?”

“Hybrid, spirit wolf, young, fertile, under Blakemore, needs to travel fast, considerations.”

“What does the last part means exactly?”

“Make her disappear and you’ll get favours.”

He knew as well as me that favours in our world can be worth a lot more than money. The first part of the message was the hook, the next one the bid.

He blinked, then grabbed his cellphone in a hurry. Something was wrong.

“What?”

“She didn’t answer my mindlink,” he said. “Nor the phone.” He added hanging up.

Then his eyes widened and he rushed out.

I ran behind him trying to keep up.

“What is it?” I asked as I jumped in the car after him. I saw people around us hurrying. He probably linked them as he ran out.

“There has been a strange illness going on near the border. That’s where Ela is,” he said pulling in gears and spitting gravel as he drove off at the maximum speed the engine could handle.

“It’s right next to the Southern swamps. If there is a single place in all of Blakemore that could be a risk potential, it’s the swamps. No one would infiltrate Blakemore proper, but if they could make her go there—.”

“Then they could make a snatch and grab.”